CHAPTER 5: DEPARTING TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES WITH THE ADVENTURERS

I arrived outside of the adventurer's

guild at the agreed time, but the entire team from Iron Will was already there.

"Sorry for being late."

"It's okay, we just came too early."

The leader of Iron Will, Werner-san said while smiling.

It seems that they have been

accustomed to mobilising early.

That's some intense dedication there.

"Shall we make our move then?"

I gave a nod and we left for Veenen.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The departure from Kiers and begun

our journey smoothly.

Iron Will maintained their battle

formation throughout.

I stood in the middle of it, while the

lead was Rita the scout. On my right

is Vincent the swordsman; on my left

is the mage Romon; behind me were Franca, the cleric, and Werner-san.

This arrangement is to ensure the protection of the client, me, when the critical moment strikes.

"Is it about time to have a break?"

With Werner's suggestion, we took

a mid-noon break.

As per the agreement, I started to

prepare everyone's meals.

While I say that though, it is not a

simple task due to the limited time

we have.

Firstly, I took out the gas stove, which

was purchased from the Internet Supermarket, from the item box.

"Wow, Makooda-san has the item

box skill. In addition, that's a

magical stove, amazing!"

To Vincent's query, I nodded my

head while replying, "Its capacity

is pretty small though."

I heard that there are people with

item box skill out there, but most

have small capacities, so I set mine

to have a small capacity while using

it.

I concluded that using it this way

is more convenient and is far less suspicious than using it secretly.

"I received this magical stove from

an acquaintance of mine. He said

he no longer goes out camping and

has little opportunities to use it, so

I got it at a fairly cheap price."

I gave the lie I cooked up beforehand without any stuttering.

Lying is one of my weapons too.

While talking to Vincent, I made a

simple sandwich using 2 slices

of bread, cheese and ham.

Next, I put instant consommé

soup base in a wooden cup, and

of course, all this was hidden

from plain sight.

After pouring water into the

cup and boiling it with the gas

stove, I announced that lunch

is ready.

"Everyone, lunch is ready."

I passed the sandwich that

was on a wooden plate and

the soup that was in the cup

to the adventurers.

"Well then, let's eat?"

Everyone started eating after

Werner's signal.

"Y-yummy~"

"This bread is sooo soft, yum~"

"Yep, yep, this bread is amazingly

soft and delicious. That soup too

is so tasty."

"This is scrumptious."

"Delicious..."

Starting from above, Vincent,

Franca, Rita, Werner-san, Ramon-san.

I'm relieved they enjoyed it.

Still, I might have skipped way

too many steps.

The reviews on the bread, especially, surprised me.

This degree of softness of

the bread is only available for the aristocrats, they said.

Indeed, the bread I have eaten

in this world were mostly black

or brown bread which were

quite stiff and hard.

In order to explain for the soft

white bread, I gave the excuse

that "This was the bread baked

in my village; I bought lots of

them and stored them in the

item box before leaving."

Eating such valuable food made

them feel ashamed, and they

wanted to return it since it is

food after all and can be stored

for later, so I had no choice but

to keep the food.

I could always restock from the

Internet Supermarket, ya know.

"Furthermore, we are very thankful

to have warm food while on a journey."

Everyone nodded at what Werner-san

said.

"Hell yeah. Accepting this job was

the right choice."

Usually while on a journey, it is

very common to have dried meat

or those stiff bread and the like

for their meals. Thus, the food

that I have brought for the journey

seemed like a sumptuous feast for

them.

Having such appetising food

created a relaxing atmosphere

and made them livelier during

our chats. This is good since

we will be together for quite

some time while on the journey.

It appears that even Iron Will

has noticed the increasing

instability in this country and

have discussed among

themselves on whether they

should move to a neighbouring

country.

It looks like they had then noticed

my request and felt that it was

the perfect job to take, so they

received it.

Back then, there were greater

rewards for other bodyguard

requests, but we are not in dire

need of money and this request guaranteed the provision of meals

so they thought it was better.

It looks like the food expenses

for the 5 of them are not

something to be sneezed at.

"I should be the one thanking

you all for accepting the request.

I, too, had thought of leaving

this country as soon as

possible, but

when I arrived at Kiers, I found

out that the stagecoach service

had been suspended, so I

panicked for a moment. Thanks

to all of you, I am now able to head towards Veenen. If you see it i

n that way, since cooking

is my specialty, from now

on, everyone can count on

me for the food."

Everyone smiled after hearing

that.

The only thing to enjoy is the

preparation of the meals, I

guess.

I will work hard for this one

thing that I can do, so please

bring me safely to Veenen.